Startup case studyTegu
An AI home-services marketplace, from Córdoba, Argentina.
Tegu is the first app to put rules on one of Argentina's most informal markets: home services. It flips the usual script — you don't search for professionals, verified professionals find you. It's free for clients; the pro pays a subscription for real demand, not a commission per job. Built in public, decision by decision.
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Real numbers, published live at tegu.ar/building-in-public. No inflated metrics.
The problem
In Argentina, 70% of service workers are in the informal economy. When something breaks at home, you don't know who to call: word of mouth, a number on a scrap of paper, and luck.
On the other side, the professional who's good at their job starts from zero every time — no portable reputation, no backing, no client base that grows with them.
Tegu builds what's missing: a work infrastructure with rules, reputation and backing. We verify identity, references and background before a professional can take a job.
How we build
Build → measure → learn. Every hypothesis is written before we build it, with its success criteria set in advance. Evidence beats opinion.
And we do it in the open. The building-in-public page shows the same face inside and out — the wins and what didn't work.
Discover, don't design
Each hypothesis is written before building, with its success criteria defined up front.
Real numbers or «soon»
No estimates, no projections, no inflated metrics. If a number isn't there, there's nothing real to show yet.
What didn't work gets told too
A refuted experiment teaches more than a launch. Mistakes are documented like the wins.
No marketing filter
The same tone in public as behind closed doors. If something is fragile, we say so.
The product
Tegu started as a form and became a conversation. Today you tell it what you need — with voice notes and photos — and the AI turns it into a task, finds the right pro, and keeps the whole job inside the app.
Tell it like you'd tell a friend
You describe your problem with voice notes and photos. The assistant listens to the audio and looks at the images to build the task for you — no form.
Discover pros, not listings
Explore professionals with their profiles, jobs and reviews — like a network, not a directory. Chat with AI before you hire.
Work comes to the pro
Professionals see nearby tasks on a map and get alerts by proximity — not noise from the whole city.
Pay in installments, 0% commission
The professional doesn't pay per job — they pay a subscription for real demand. So the client can pay in installments with a QR, and the money goes straight to the pro: no Tegu commission on the work.
Demo video coming soon.
A new identity
We rebuilt the brand from scratch. Out went a busy blue mascot; in came a minimalist lizard — a tegu — and one exact green.
Then we took the whole product monochrome: one ink, no gradients, no decoration. What matters is the person on the other side, not the screen.
The story so far
A coffee in Chacabuco
Three of us started: Lucas, Eze and Matías. Two thousand dollars, zero investors, one rule — whoever does the work keeps it all.
The beta
The team of three finishes the first version and tests it in Córdoba with the first professionals on board.
To market
The MVP ships to production: real tasks, real offers, and the first radio interviews. The problem is real.
Time to monetize
The question changes: will pros pay? The monetization stage begins — without touching the 0% commission rule.
The model gets clear
Zero commission, first job of the month free, and a simple subscription. Simple to explain, simple to charge.
In public
Open dev log, a real coverage map, prices backed by data, and the building-in-public page.
New brand
We rebuilt the interface from scratch so the center is people, not decoration.
The business model
The same model we publish on /soy-profesional. Tegu never gets between the pro and the client.
Searching, comparing and contacting pros is free, always.
100% of what the pro charges is the pro's. Tegu never takes a cut.
Our only revenue: an optional subscription for pros who want to scale.
From client to pro, without passing through Tegu. We don't process or hold money.
Trust, out in the open
Trust isn't a claim — Tegu opened institutional pages so anyone can see who's behind it and how both sides are cared for.
In the press
Innovación cordobesa: así funciona TEGU, la app que conecta servicios y empleo
The team
Product and design. Documents the process in public, decision by decision.
Writes the code behind Tegu: the platform, the matching, and the site itself.
Came from Ushuaia, the end of the world. The mobile app is his, screen by screen.
What's next
Density before coverage
Concentrate on the categories and neighborhoods of Córdoba where there's already real demand, instead of adding catalog.
Do installments change the decision?
Installments are live; now we measure whether they actually change the decision to hire.
Getting the client to come back
We understand the pro well; the client side is where we're weakest. We're looking for reasons to bring them back.
“I don't know if we'll make it. But here we are. Thank you, Córdoba.”